Sunday, October 23, 2016

Donald Trump’s Gettysburg Speech

The calls for banning or restricting lobbying on the US government (or by ex-government officials) will make a lot of corporate interests extremely angry.

And we also have this startling promise:

Really? Does this include organisations like AIPAC? If so, that would be quite a stunning reform, but over at Trump’s official website where the policy is described, we read this:

“Fourth: I am going to issue a lifetime ban against senior executive branch officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.

Fifth: I am going to ask Congress to pass a campaign finance reform that prevents registered foreign lobbyists from raising money in American elections.”
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trumps-five-point-plan-for-ethics-reform

You can’t help but notice the use of that key word “registered,” and its implication given this. Sounds like AIPAC is safe and sound.

2 comments:

Hmmm. That act covers all agents who are political doesn't it? You can be the Russian agent for caviar and are not covered, unless you lobby or get involved politically, in which case you must register. So the use of registered there sounds appropriate, not necessarily a loophole. I mean you and I both think registered voters should provide ID. That doesn't imply we think unregistered voters should just be able to walk in and vote unchecked!

These restrictions on revolving doors are overdue. Glenn Reynolds suggests a possibly more effective rule: salary and bonus caps for a period of time. Not just Trump makes points on these issues. I think her a flake on many issues but Kevin Wayne is right (!!) that Jill Stein says some stuff worth listening to.